Tor Teen Reader of the Month!

We read best alone in a comfy chair, but we also love that reading is a communal activity that gets better when you share your thoughts, frustrations and glamorous pictures with the world. So every month we celebrate Tor Teen readers who use their incredible talents, vision, and social savvy to share their reading with the world

June’s Tor Teen Reader of the month was Samantha, booktuber extraordinaire of Thoughts on Tomes, and this month we’re chatting with Hikari of Folded Pages Distillery!

Where to find them:

What they’re all about:

What got you into Bookstagram?

Initially, I was just looking for different ways to get my book review blog more visibility. I didn’t start out with styled photos either. I literally would throw the book on my bed and take a quick snap. I’d post it with a caption that said “new review for <insert book title> on the blog today!” or something like that. I think it took me about two months of that before I realized it could be a creative outlet. Then I found out I enjoyed the active community there so much more that the blog became second to Instagram for me.

What was your favorite book at 15?

Harry Potter was just coming to the United States when I was 15 (is this aging me??) so I was very excited about those. If I’m being honest, I don’t think it was until I was in my 20s that I started being critical about books in a way that made me choose “favorites”. I just wanted to read and I would read basically anything that I found lying around or pick up whatever had a good cover that caught me eye at the library. Feeding/Reading Frenzy, if you will. It wasn’t until later that I would go back and pick out the books and stories that stayed with me and began adding them to my personal library.

What is your favorite bookstagram prop?
I definitely like my maps the best. I love maps/star charts a lot, so I tend to throw those in whenever I can.

What’s your favorite Tor Book of all time?
Anything by Victoria Schwab. I loved the Shades of Magic trilogy and the collector’s edition is one of my favorite books on my shelf.

What’s one YA trope you can’t get enough of?
I’m pretty fond of “The Chosen One” trope. There are some “chosen one” stories that do it better than others, and I do like different plays on it… but I love the moment when Arthur pulls the sword from the stone, so to speak. There is one person who can do this thing—defeat this ancient evil, or whatever it may be, and they discover that they alone are the key.